Tall Jalul
تل جالول · Tall Jalul, Tell Jalul
EBA through Mamluk; Iron II peak·Moabite/Ammonite frontier → Persian Yehud fringe → Byzantine·🇯🇴 Amman Governorate, Madaba Plains, Jalul village, Jordan
About
About Tall Jalul
Largest tell in Madaba Plains region (18 ha) behind Hisban, excavated Andrews University Madaba Plains Project (Randall Younker) since 1992. Massive Iron Age city with tripartite pillared building (possible Ammonite palace/temple), 9th c. BCE destruction, Persian resettlement and Byzantine/Mamluk reuse. Visible 6 m city wall and citadel with pithos storerooms. Companion to Tell el-Umayri and Hisban for Ammon/Moab frontier interpretation; lower Iron town buried under colluvium.
Why it mattersLargest Moab frontier city; pillared building informs Ammonite state architecture alongside Umayri and Hisban.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Ammonite vs Moabite attribution at Jalul frontier suture
- 02Function of pillared building — palace, temple or storehouse
Theories
- 01Younker Ammonite polity expansion model vs MPP overlapping chiefdoms
- 02Persian resettlement as imperial re-peopling vs local return
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- c.3000 BCE EBA; Iron II fortified city c.900 BCE; main Iron city c.950–550 BCE
- Period
- EBA through Mamluk; Iron II peak
- Culture
- Moabite/Ammonite frontier → Persian Yehud fringe → Byzantine
- Builders
- Ammonite builders and Persian Yehud settlers
- Purpose
- Plains fortress on Ammon-Moab border, grain depot
- Abandoned
- c.580 BCE Babylonian destruction
- Rediscovered
- Surveyed 1984 MPP; excavated 1992– present Andrews (Younker)
- Excavation
- Excavation ongoing
1992
Andrews MPP sounding opens Field A pillared building
850 BCE
Pillared building destruction with Assyrian-style seals
On the ground
Structures & features
31.7670° N · 35.8570° E · 920 m · 2 mapped features
Pillared Building (Field A)
palaceTripartite pillared hall (possible Ammonite temple/palace)
31.7672° N · 35.8572° ECasemate city wall
fortification6 m thick Iron II casemate and glacis
31.7670° N · 35.8570° E